In processing information on a computer it is often necessary to save a section of the on-screen document and reproduce it at another location in the document. This function is know as a "copy" operation, is useful and saves retyping sections of a document. The section copied may vary in length from a few words to entire paragraphs.
Another commonly available function is used to remove, or "cut" a section from a document. The cut section may then be pasted at another location in the document. This function also saves processing time by eliminating the need to delete sections of a document and then retype them at a different location in the document. In both the copy operation, and the cut operation, the information is temporarily saved to a "clipboard."
A limitation in both of these operations is that when a second section of the document is copied or cut, it overwrites the section currently saved on the clipboard. When a lengthy document is being revised it is often necessary to cut, copy, and paste different sections more than one time. If the section of the document on the clipboard is not what is needed at the current working location in the document, and a section that was previously copied to the clipboard is needed, the previously copied section will have to be found in the document, copied to the clipboard again, and then pasted in the appropriate section. If the section of the document that was previously on the clipboard, and which has now been overwritten, was cut from the document, it will have to be retyped.
A method of saving sections of a document to a clipboard without overwriting previously cut or copied sections is desirable.